Last month I was wandering through HomeGoods and came across the Williams-Sonoma SALAD recipe book on sale for a great price.    Salads make such a great summertime meal when it’s just too hot to cook and I’ve been having a lot of fun trying out recipes from this book for the kinds of salads I usually order in a restaurant.

Since we are trying to eat-in more it also makes our summer meals a little fancier.  Some of my successes include “Spring lettuces with broiled goat cheese” and “Roasted beets and pecans with curly endive” (okay, we won’t discuss the first time I accidentally picked up radishes instead of beets — don’t really recommend roasted radishes).

The Cobb Salad pictured here is a classic recipe I’ve made a few times now and it really is a complete meal and then some (click photo to enlarge).  Start with a bed of greens (romaine lettuce is the traditional but I’ve used baby spinach too) and top with rows of fresh chopped avacado, boiled egg, bacon, cubed turkey (or ham), tomatoes, green onions and Roquefort cheese crumbled.

You can drizzle this tasty dressing on top:

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 tsp.Worcestshire sauce

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

1 clove garlic (crushed, then minced)

Salt and ground pepper

1/3 coup extra-virgin olive oil

1 oz crumbled Roquefort cheese

In a small bowl whiske together the vinegar, Worcester sauce, mustard, garlic, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp. peppr. Using a fork, mash in the 1 oz Roquefort cheese to make a paste.  While whisking, slowly drizzle in the olive oil to form a thick dressing.

From personal experience I’ll tell you that a little of this dressing goes a long way so drizzle a little over each plate and leave the rest in a small pitcher on the table for folks to add more if they wish.

I serve this salad up on a leaf-shaped glass plate (anyone else remember these arcoroc dishes from the 80’s? )and place it on a colorful placemat with matching napkin  — doesn’t get more summery than that!

So, what’s your favorite summer salad recipe?